Perdition
by LabyrinthineDreamer
Summary: After the Labyrinth Jareth continues to watch over Sarah, but what is the price to them both?
1. Perdition

The evening shadows drift across the walls of the bedroom where the dark haired young woman reclines absorbed in her reading. She does not notice when I detach myself from the various shadows and alight on the edge of her bed. As the daylight fades her eyes close of their own volition, her book lies forgotten in her lap. A strand of her hair has fallen across her face and I trace it but my hand does not touch her. In her sleep she shifts under my gaze as if sensing someone watching. I am always watching, I have been for much of her life.

The little red book on her lap had been my invitation into her life and she still cherishes it after all these years. The book had been created as a trap, the words adapting to each victim to lure the unsuspecting into my grasp. I had captured many over the years, controlling them, driving them slowly mad, taking perverse pleasure in destroying countless lives. If happiness was denied me, why should they be any different? I once held unimaginable power, had the ability to transform, to take any shape I chose. But I had misused my powers and physical form was stripped from me. Now I can only live as a shadow, or a dream. I have long since forgotten the feeling of the sun on my face, or the wind in my wings. But I had not forgotten my anger, a blinding rage that I took out on any and all within my reach.

She had still been a child when she had found my book. I adapted it to fit her, a tale of fantasy to draw her in, make me real, if only to her. Make her dream of me and of the Labyrinth. In that dream she fought me and won, but really, she lost. It wasn't real. Only a dream to trap her imagination, to tie her to me.

Too late I realized that I had also been entwined. Her green eyes so full of determination, kindness and forgiveness had broken my resolve. I could not bear the thought of hurting her.

Ever since that first dream, she continues to invite me into her dreams. She no longer sees me as the villain in her story. Sometimes in her dreams we simply walk hand in hand among the hedgemaze or the gardens. She enjoys exploring the corridors of the castle and teasing the goblins. Sometimes we meet with her friends from her run and they regale her with tales of their adventures.

She calls out my name in her sleep, entreating me to join her. I cannot deny her call and I enter her dreams once more. I find myself in the castle in the center of the Labyrinth in a familiar royal suite. She is on the bed, green eyes large with desire as she pulls me on top of her. I make love to her fiercely, hungrily, I am never sated of her sweet surrender and her passion. As dawn approaches her dream releases me.

These dreams are a form of exquisite torture to me. I would give absolutely anything to make them real. To make the Labyrinth real. I would bring her there and make her my Queen. But the Labyrinth only exists within her imagination.

We only exist within her imagination. I am an exile, a being without substance and without a home, I have nothing to offer her. She is the object of my desire but I cannot touch her except within her dreams. I cannot give her what she truly wants and deserves. I cannot meet her family, marry her, give her a home or children. I can only live in her mind and it will drive her mad. Already this dual existance is fraying her tenuous grasp on reality, very soon it will start to unravel. To continue like this will cause her to lose everything that she has fought so hard to keep. Her world does not take kindly to the insane, she would be torn from her family, from her beloved little brother. She would be institutionalized, or become one of the lost ones who roam the streets of her world, at the mercy of the elements. Or worse, of the evil that lurks in the back alleys of her world that prey on the lost, the frail, the broken.

Painfully I realize that I have done to her as I had done to the rest of my victims. I am destroying her.

I may be a monster but... I love her. There is still time to undo the harm that I have caused her.

I may not have physical form but my heart is breaking as I lean over her. The tattered red book turns to dust as I place a shadowy kiss on her sleeping lips and breathe the words..."Sarah...forget me...I have no power over you."

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The idea for this fic has been floating around in my mind for over a year. I finally put it into words.

Disclaimer: Labyrinth and its characters belong to Jim Henson.


	2. Reckoning

I flee from her presence, fearing that I will give into weakness and seek her again. As a shadow I travel the veil, back to the kingdom of my youth. I find the dungeon that had been my last residence there and I enter. The moment I pass through the bars my form returns to me. I fall to the floor, my knees bruising against the rough stone. I am back in the cage that I had fled so long ago. No matter what happens now, Sarah is safe from me.

A guard sees me and runs down the corridor sounding the alarm, I do not blame him. The last of his kind to encounter me died at my hands in this very cell.

I remember it like it was yesterday, though it was eons ago. I had been reckless, ruthless and unrepentant. My actions had almost destroyed my kingdom. I had been warned that if I tried to escape that my punishment would follow me but I had not listened. The day before my execution was to take place I tricked the guard into opening the door. I killed him with my bare hands before transforming, preparing to fly away from this place forever. In that moment my physical form was stripped from me and instead I was condemned to roam as a shadow.

News of my arrival spreads quickly and soon a contingent of guards comes to escort me to the courtroom. The courtroom is full when I arrive, full of curious onlookers but also many of those that I had wronged

I see a woman tighten her grip on a railing before fleeing the courtroom. I had transformed myself into the guise of her husband so that I could take her, viewing her faithfulness to her husband as simply an impediment to my desires. When her husband had interrupted my pleasure I had killed him. The fact that he had been an envoy to our kingdom had caused a war.

I see the dias where two thrones still stand but only one of them is occupied. A weight settles in my heart at the memory. My mother is gone, as well as two of my brothers. Fallen in battle trying to save the kingdom from my foolishness.

I see my oldest brother regard me coolly before exiting, I know that he does not care to hear what I have to say. My actions had spoken so loudly for me before.

A trumpet sounds and I stand in the stark courtroom, my hands in shackles but I lift my head high. I will not be afraid. The King who is also the judge stands on the dias in his floor length grey robes. His eyes are unreadable as he measures me, weighing my life on the scales for the second time. I already know what my sentence will be.

His eyebrow raises slightly. "You know that the price for your crimes has not changed?"

I nod respectfully. "Yes Sire."

"And yet you still returned." His eyes search my face, trying to understand.

"Yes." I sigh. "I am here to accept the sentence that I once fled."

"Why?"

I look around, acknowledging the audience. "Because I am tired of running, tired of hating, tired of causing harm." My head lowers. "Death would be better than this not-life, where everything I touch is tainted."

He frowned. "You caused much harm before your exile but did not show remorse. Why the change?"

I look him in the eyes, not in defiance but trying to relay my regret. "Because I have learned that other's choices and happiness are as valid as my own...if not more. I do not wish to cause any more pain."

He holds my gaze for a moment. "Lessons that you would have done well to learn before it coming to this." A slight sigh escapes him. "Are you ready to hear your sentence?"

I take a slow breath to steady my voice. "Yes, your majesty."

The king's voice fills the room. "Jareth, former Prince of this realm, for your numerous crimes against this kingdom and others you are hereby sentenced to immediate execution."

I nod. I am lead to a dark room lit with a single sconce, a hooded man is waiting, a large axe at his side.

I kneel, unbidden.

The king's voice betrays his surprise. "You truly accept your punishment?"

Keeping my head lowered I reply. "Yes Sire."

"Do you have any last words?" There is something of gentleness of his query.

I look up at him, a small hope blooming in my chest. "Please keep her safe."

A spark of curiosity fills his eyes. "Who?" The King holds out a crystal to me and I touch it, within it forms the image of a dark haired woman playing in a park with a light haired child.

Tears form in my eyes at seeing her so happy. "She is Sarah."

Regarding the image in the crystal incredulously, he asks. "Who is the child? Not yours?"

I shake my head. "No, within the bounds of my exile that would be impossible. He is her brother. In her dreams she defied me to save him."

His eyes snap back to me. "And yet you love them."

"Yes." My voice cracks.

His brow raises. "And still you left them to meet your fate here?"

I stare at the image in the crystal he still holds, taking strength from it. "Yes... I can only be a part of her dreams and it was destroying her. And I know that I do not have the fortitude to remain watching her from a distance. This is the only way to protect her from myself."

The old judge clasps the crystal tightly. "Jareth, my son...I promise that I will watch over them both."

I know that my relief is visible on my face. I whisper. "Thank you, Father."

He backs away, his face once again unreadable. He nods and the executioner steps torward me. In the shadow thrown by the sconce I see the axe fall and then nothing.

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Note from the author...

I actually originally planned on keeping this as only a one shot... then almost the exact moment I posted the last chapter I got the idea for this. There is one more chapter to come.


	3. Repreive

I open my eyes and then close them immediately, wincing at the contrast of brightness from the darkness of the moment before. I cover my eyes with my hand and blink, trying to understand why I am not dead. Peering through my fingers I try again, all I see is a cloudless blue sky.

Looking around I realize that I am laying in the grass. I try to sit up and belatedly notice that I can feel the grass. I run my hands through it, relishing the feeling of it's prickly coolness against my fingers. How is this possible?

I take in my surroundings, I see trees, swans in a pond, a stone bridge and an obelisk. I jump up with a start. I know this place. I look around frantically. Why am I here?

Across the bridge I hear a voice and I stumble back down suddenly in the grass. "This is not possible!"

On the other side of the pond Sarah is running, laughing, with Toby close at her heels. They are chasing a grey dog across the field.

I tremble. I want nothing more that to run to her, take her into my arms and ask her to be mine forever. "But she will not remember me."

"She does not." Reiterates a familiar voice behind me.

I spin around to see my father, still in his judge's robes.

"What is going on? Why am I not dead?"

"Prince Jareth is dead. He has paid the price for his treachery."

"Then why am I still here?"

"Because you underwent one last transformation." At my confusion he chuckles. "Your old man still has a few tricks up his sleeve. And... in a way, it is your Sarah that saved you." He bends and retrieves a crystal sphere that I had not noticed at my feet. Holding it up to me he rolls it over his hand deftly. "Both you and I had touched it and you had connected it to her. At the moment that the blade touched your neck I sent you here. Your blood was spilled, but not your life."

Without thinking I raise my hand to the back of my neck, I feel a thin raised scar.

"I have tranformed you, you are now fully human, with a human's limitations. You will never return to my kingdom. As such, your life as you knew it is over, in essence your execution has been performed. The executioner will testify that he saw you fall under his blade and that I gathered your body in a crystal and crushed it." He continues to spin the crystal and then in the blink of an eye, there are two. He smirks. "Only a bit of slight of hand."

I stare at him, incredulous. "But why?... After all I have done... the war... my mother..."

"Because I saw the change in you, you are no longer the selfish Prince who put his own desires above the wellbeing of his kingdom. The old Jareth would have used this woman until her mind was broken beyond repair and then abandoned her to her misery. But you have learned to care, your last wish was not for yourself, but for another." He gestured across the pond. "Consider this your reprieve."

My eyes follow his gesture and I gaze longingly at Sarah. "But how? She does not remember me."

He shook his head solemnly. "Nor will she, it is better for her sanity. But you will also forget. That is another reason why I say that Jareth the Prince is dead. Nothing of those memories will remain. You will start a new life for yourself and... if she'll have you, with her." He looks across the bridge and a true smile graces his lips.

He turns back to me. "This is the last time that you will see me and know me, but I will be checking in on you from time to time. I did promise to watch over her after all."

I am speechless as I stare at my father, who has every reason to hate me but has instead given me my greatest wish. I finally manage to whisper. "Thank you."

The King smiles as he takes my hand into his and clasps it warmly. "I have set up a new life for you. Please use it wisely." The air ripples and he is gone.

I blink at the empty space and then stumble, disoriented. What had I been doing?

A voice calls out. "Hello? Are you okay?" A dark haired woman runs over the bridge to my side. "I saw you fall. Are you okay?"

Uncertain, I search for my words. "Uh... yes? I... I think I just need to get out of the sun."

She helps me up and walks with me to the shade of an old oak. I sigh and sit back down, leaning my head against the rough bark. She kneels and feels my forehead, "You are too warm, I'll be back with some water." She runs back over the bridge and soon returns with a picnic basket and a blond boy of about eleven. A grey mutt trails behind, tongue lolling out contentedly.

"Here." She hands me a water bottle, I take it and I gulp its contents gratefully.

I gaze up at her and notice that in the shade of the tree her eyes are like emeralds. She is truly captivating. "Thank you miss."

She blushes under my scrutiny. "Call me Sarah."

"Sarah." The name rolls off my tongue like it belongs there. I smile and extend my hand. "I am Jareth."

She smiles and shakes my hand. "Nice to meet you Jareth."

"And I'm Toby!" exclaims the boy, he rubs the dog's head. "And he's Gandalf."

"Nice to meet you all." I hold up the water bottle. "Thank you very much for your assistance.

"You're very welcome." Sarah smiles and tilts her head. "So... what brought you to being almost passed out in the park?"

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Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

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Apparently I am unable to write a truly dark fic, there must be some form of silver lining or potential for a happy ending. I am leaving this here, on the cusp of a new beginning.

Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think of it.

Guest 2019 and AnxiousTerrier, thanks for reviewing!


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